Service engineer and former Conservative councillor handed friends, family and
charities 'dirty money' after years of deceit, court hears, as he is jailed

Jonathan Woodley-Shead used a company key to empty £1 and 20p coins from washing machines and tumble dryers at 23 different locationsPhoto: Vagner Vidal/INS

By Agency

4:40PM GMT 03 Feb 2016

A former Tory councillor has been jailed for three years after living a double life donating cash to charities while stealing £155,000 in coins from the launderette machines he was servicing as an engineer.

Jonathan Woodley-Shead used a company key to empty £1 and 20p coins from washing machines and tumble dryers at 23 different locations around the south of England.

The 52-year-old, who earned a gross salary of more than £94,000, planned his working week to be able to trawl his employer's machines at student halls and Army barracks, stealing an average of £4,000 every month.

He admitted one count of theft dating to between 2011 and 2015, while he held office at South Oxfordshire District Council.

"Some of the money was spent on charity and more laudable ways, but what these people didn't know was that the money they were receiving, apparently from your generosity, was in fact stolen"

Judge Stephen John

A judge said the service engineer had handed friends, family and charities "dirty money" after years of deceit.

Sarita Basra, prosecuting at Reading Crown Court, said: "The defendant now accepts stealing £155,000 from his former employers Armstrong Commercial Laundry Systems over 44 months from December 2011 to July 2015.

"That was an average steal of just under £4,000 a month. His duties were to visit and repair and install machines and the service engineers did not have keys or permission to access the cash boxes located on the machines."

Woodley-Shead had worked for the company, which is based in Newbury, Berkshire, since 2008 - repairing self-service laundrette machines. He was promoted to manage the seven other engineers before a new position of field supervisor was created for him.

His managers became suspicious after he was spotted at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire when there had not been a service call at the site.

They installed a tracking device on his company car and monitored him visiting Reading University on July 10 last year, again when he was not due to service the machines there.

When staff later visited the laundrette and carried out a digital audit, they found that the cash boxes on all 24 machines had been opened during his visit.

The case was heard at Reading Crown Court Photo: Alamy

Ms Basra said he had timed his thefts for Fridays and Saturdays to avoid bumping into colleagues, who emptied the machines from Monday to Thursday.

The grandfather, who initially admitted stealing a much smaller sum over the past year, was dismissed for gross misconduct as the police investigation began.

He said: "I haven't got the money, I used it on things. I've given it away and drunk it."

When detectives examined his Barclays bank account, they determined he had stolen at least £175,000 since 2011, of which Woodley-Shead admitted £155,000. Cash deposits of up to £200 a time were regularly made into the account and mortgage payments went out.

Armstrong Commercial Laundry Systems made profits of around £400,000 over the same period, the court heard.

Judge Stephen John said getting the truth out of Woodley-Shead had been like "drawing teeth", telling him: "The admissions to employers, police and this court have come in stages. You have, right up until today, minimised the extent of your offending."

"He still finds it difficult to accept the full amount of money he has taken... The amounts gradually increased. He got bolder"

Allan Walker, defending

However Allan Walker, defending, insisted this was due to confusion over the total amount of the takings, rather than a deliberate attempt to mislead.

"When he was taking small amounts of coins in £1 and 20p denominations it has built up over time," he said. "He still finds it difficult to accept the full amount of money he has taken.

"It was taken incrementally. Mr Woodley-Shead didn't set out to steal such large amounts. The amounts gradually increased. He got bolder."

Jailing him for three years for the "sophisticated" scheme, Judge John said Woodley-Shead's charitable efforts were far outweighed by the length of his well-planned campaign of theft.

He told Woodley-Shead: "You were able to get away with this for the substantial period that you did because none of the machines showed any sign of forced entry as you had provided yourself with a key to which you were not entitled.

"You were leading, as the officer said, a 'carefree lifestyle' on this money, with holidays, eating out, spending in shops and online.

"I acknowledge some of the money was spent on charity and more laudable ways, but what these people didn't know was that the money they were receiving, apparently from your generosity, was in fact stolen.

"When you were giving money, those that received it did not know it was dirty money stolen from your employers. They make the point that having given you every opportunity, stealing from their company over many years was a complete betrayal of trust."

Woodley-Shead, of Culham, Abindgon, Oxfordshire, was jailed for three years and confiscation proceedings will follow to recoup the money.

The former Conservative Party councillor, who represented Sandford and the Wittenhams ward, was elected during the May 7 elections this year after receiving 1,030 votes. He stepped down from the role just two months later on July 29 as these offences came to light.